Qualcomm

Qualcomm has a vested interest in smarter mobile devices: it wants to power even more of them with its own Snapdragon chips. To that end, today sees the launch of the Qualcomm Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine an SDK for the Snapdragon 820 chipset that promises a simpler path to deep-learning software and artificial intelligence on phones, tablets, wearables, and even in cars.

Taking the perfect selfie usually requires skill, dedication, and the sort of flexibility that only comes with years of yoga, so why not get a drone to snap the shot instead? That's Zero Zero Robotics' big idea with the Hover Camera, promising not only the flexibility of a compact drone that can be folded for transport but one that can then be piloted from a smartphone with a couple of finger-swipes.

Xiaomi has made it no secret that it wants to diversify its products. In fact, it has been putting out products in the smart home market, including a recent smart induction rice cooker. It latest new product, however, will take it back to the mobile tech market but in another light. According to an official from one of Xiaomi's component partners, the Chinese OEM is going to reveal its own Application Processing Unit or APU to power its mobile devices, and it will be doing so as early as next month.

Google's Benson Leung called out the LG G5 and the HTC 10 this past due to their USB-C cords, both of which break official USB-C spec rules. Why? Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology. The cords do not fit the standard specifications for USB Type-C (or USB-C, however you want to say it) as set by the USB Implementers Forum. Today we've got a detailed set of answers from Qualcomm on why they're not worried about fitting this spec as defended by Leung - and why you shouldn't either.

Qualcomm has barely had time to enjoy its return to prominence after a disastrous 2015 and already the rumor mill is starting to churn for its next mobile processor. Given the amount of flak it received for the Snapdragon 810, however, the chip maker seems to be proceeding with more caution this time around. With most of the early 2016 flagships already on the loose, attention it turning to the later half's stars, the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 and a surprising LG G Flex3. Both, say sources, will run on a Snapdragon 823 instead of the 820.

Picture this: you get up in the morning, have you coffee, grab your keys, and head to the garage. After slipping behind the wheel of your brand new electric vehicle, you hit the 'power' button and…nothing happens. Confused, you stab the button again, only to be greeted with the same blank screens. It's only then that your eyes trail over to your sideview mirror, where you see the charging cable nestled in its station, instead of connected to your automobile. A momentary oversight the night before now has you taking the bus to work, instead of driving.

It's not easy to give birth to a brand new global racing series. It's even harder when you're bucking the trend of nearly 100 years of motorsports by leaving the roar of internal combustion behind in favor of embracing the future of electric mobility. Formula E, now in its second season, juxtaposes the familiar open-wheel format with avant-guard battery-powered drivetrains, and in the process flips much of the established racing order on its ear.

Some manufacturers, like Apple and, recently, Samsung, try to steer attention away from the hard, cold, and impersonal numbers of specs and stats, focusing instead on relative performance and concrete applications. However, there will always be interest in those numbers, particularly CPU and GPU benchmarks. AnTuTu is one of the more popular providers of such numbers and, just after the launch of new devices, it has released what its tests have revealed to be the top 10 mobile CPUs in the market. Interestingly, the #1 spot is occupied by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820.

Shiny new hardware like the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 might be the most attention-grabbing thing at Mobile World Congress this week, but the next-generation backbone of 5G networks are arguably more important. Qualcomm certainly has a vested interest in seeing 5G roll out sooner rather than later, but according to the company is about much more than just a bump in data speed.

The folks at Qualcomm have revealed that they want to jam so much internet speed through their chips, you won't know what to do with it all. The company's 6th-generation LTE modem chipset will support "download speeds up to 1Gbps" and will be what they describe as "the mobile industry's first announced LTE Advanced Pro modem that also has support for Licensed Assisted Access. While it reach Gigabit Class LTE speeds, this chip will use the same amount of spectrum as Category 9 LTE devices - no big deal!

Qualcomm has revamped its midrange with a trio of new Snapdragon processors, borrowing some 820 abilities for more affordable smartphones. The Snapdragon 625, 435, and 425 may be cheaper than the flagship Snapdragon 820 but they do offer a number of its headline features, including LTE carrier aggregation support, Qualcomm's Hexagon DSP audio processing, and WiFI 802.11ac MU-MIMO.

The next Android Wear watches could be smaller, faster, and a whole lot more connected, with Qualcomm announcing a big upgrade to one of its tiniest chipsets. Replacing the Snapdragon 400 that's found in the majority of Android Wear devices today, the new Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform is 30-percent smaller than its predecessor - important, when you need to design something sleek enough to fit comfortably and discretely on a wrist.